Posted May 27th, 2004
This song helps us accomplish two purposes of singing in worship: Remembering and declaring the gospel. There is hardly a more wondrous story than that of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. This song lays out the gospel very clearly - that Jesus died for us, his lost sheep. We sing of our lost state, that we were bruised, faint, and cowering in fear. Though our Christian journey will at times be filled with despair and sorrow, we are comforted to know that our Shepherd is with us (Psalm 23:4). Once we are in Christ, nothing can take us from the Father's hand of protection (John 10:29) - even the great enemy death, described here as a river (like in Pilgrim's progress). We have the glorious hope that God will lead us safely through death to be with Him and our believing loved ones forever!
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Posted May 27th, 2004
A vital part of our worship must be that of confession and repentance, for if we are not maintaining a healthy, reconciled relationship with God, our time of praise and adoration will be hypocritical and contrived. Different traditions insert a time of confession in their gathered worship at different times and in different ways, but all seek to focus our attention on our sinfulness in order to remember and enjoy the forgiveness God has applied to those very sins. Robery McCheyne said that "for every one look at your sin, take 10 looks to Jesus." We can spend the rest of our time of worship celebrating and enjoying God's glory - his name and works. Our fresh experience of the forgiveness of sins will make the rest of our time of worship more real, intimate, and exciting. This song is a song of desperation - because of our weakness, fear, vileness, and worthlessness, we have nothing left to except cry like the tax collector in Luke 18:13 "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!"
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Posted February 22nd, 2004
"I Sing the Mighty Power of God" is one of the most beautiful hymns we have that describes God's glory and power displayed to us in creation. Romans 1:20 (NASB) says "since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made." God has displayed ample evidence of his nature and his power so that unbelieving people are without excuse. In fact, creation speaks so loudly of a creator that men often end up worshiping the creation (Rom 1:23). Meditating on God's goodness to us, shown even in creation, will help us worship God as he intends. The whole testimony of scripture is filled with evidence of worship as a result of beholding God's creation (see Psalm 8 for example). In this song, a chorus was added to add emphasis to the fact that God is not only our creator but also redeemer. He hasn't simply left us with the testimony of creation, but has furnished his son, the Lord Jesus, who came to redeem us, as proof of not only His existence, but his lovingkindness.
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Posted October 10th, 2003
The phrase "cross-centered" has become popular recently. We have a continual need to keep the cross of Christ before us and for this central act that secured our salvation to saturate our life of worship. As the writer of Hebrews challenges us, we should be "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2 NASB) This song reminds us of what Jesus did on our behalf and of the future and final salvation that awaits us because of Him. As we contemplate the significance of the cross we can truly celebrate the blessings God has poured out on us through Christ - that "all our sins [were] on Jesus laid", and that a "full redemption [is] flowing from the sacrifice He made". Praise God!
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Posted October 10th, 2003
Though our salvation is eternally secure because it is based on God's sovereign choice and sovereign work, we often fall into periods of spiritual wantonness that is sometimes called "backsliding". God will never allow true believers to slide "off" - to fall beyond repentance, but when we are stuck in this funk, neglecting the joy of our salvation and clinging to our sin, we can fall into real despair. The writer of this song knew this despair, the gloom of remembering the sweet moments once spent with the Lord in His Word. We can identify with this song because of our indewlling sin that causes us, even if for brief moments or hours, to stray from our God and worship the idol of self. We should long for a closer walk with God and look forward to the time when we will truly worship God alone.
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Posted July 15th, 2003
Another song about God's word, "Lamp of Our Feet" helps get us prepared to medidate and study it during its preaching. Mixing several different sections of scripture that refer to God's word, this hymn calls our attention to the fact that God's word is our guide, our spiritual food, and our sure anchor in uncertainty and trials. What a wonderful prayer we sing in the chorus - that we all might learn God's word and turn to its teaching with simple, childlike hearts. We, in the reformed circles, can easily lose sight of that simple, obedient, expectant faith like a child's in the midst of such thorough and complex preaching. May we not become lost in intellectualism nor emotionalism but worship God in both spirit and truth!
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Posted July 15th, 2003
This popular hymn text is a beautiful reminder that salvation has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. We come to Christ for mercy without one plea, without anything we can offer on our behalf, and full only of rebellious and self-glorifying ways. This hymn writer certainly understood God's sovereignty in salvation - we see the doctrine of irresistible grace in the phrase "since you called I cannot flee". An original chorus was added that summarizes the theme of all of the verses - that we come with our sin and shame to the Lamb.
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Posted July 11th, 2003
"I Will Follow You" is a great song of dedication. The desire of the believer's heart is to faithfully serve his Lord all the days of this life - and then on into eternity in His heavenly kingdom. This song has an original chorus that focuses our attention on the great theme of serving God not simply because He commands it but because He is also our friend.
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Posted July 11th, 2003
This song was born out of a difficult time in the life of songwriter David Ward. Overwhelmed by responsibilities - chiefly that of teaching God's word, David felt more than ever his comprehensive, ever-present need for God's presence. This is a beautiful hymn that explains exactly why we need our Lord Jesus so much. Even though in this song we are taught that we need Him because our hearts are dead, because we are always struggling with doubt, and because we need a friend who can understand our sorrows, we will truly never know how much we really need Him!
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Posted July 11th, 2003
This song helps us remember that God's grace is unending, infinite, and free. In Christ, he richly pours out this grace on all those who believe in Him. We sing that it perflectly cleanses, gives infallible cure from guilt, and demands that we receive it just as we are - utterly sinful. This song has an original chorus, something songwriter David Ward has been doing more of lately. It needed a focal/high point that made the theme more memorable and summarized the main theological points about this "fountain of grace". Singers are also challenged to come - whether it is for initial or continued cleansing.
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Jump right to some of our most popular songs.
Reformed Praise presents Martin Luther's setting of Psalm 130 in a fresh, reflective, piano-driven setting suitable for a wide range of worship music styles.
